scarfing tube and pipe— cut to the quick

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R E S U LT S
SCARFING TUBE AND PIPE—
CUT TO THE QUICK
PART II: DRAWING
A BEAD ON SCARF
REMOVAL AND
DISPOSAL
By W.B. “Bud” Graham, Contributing Writer
Editor’s Note: This is the second
article in a three-part series on cutting, removing, and disposing of
weld beads. Part I, which appeared
in the July/August issue, discussed
the reasons to remove the weld bead
and equipment parameters that
affect the scarfing process. Part II
discusses manual and automated
removal processes. Part III, which
will appear in the October/
November issue, will discuss strategies for improving ID weld bead
removal and disposal.
CURRENT practice for removing and disposing of OD and ID
weld bead scarf follows two divergent paths—manual and automatic.
The processes for the OD weld bead differ from those used for the ID
weld bead.
OD WELD BEAD REMOVAL OPTIONS
For manual disposal, an operator uses a pitchfork or a similar hand
tool to pull scarf into a scrap hopper. Little training is required other
than learning to identify the sharp end of the pitchfork.
The work is more difficult than it seems, and the motions are awkward. In addition, the scarf scrap is hot and sharp, so manual removal
exposes the operator to cutting and burning hazards. If the mill is running at 300 feet per minute (FPM), the operator must go to the disposal station every five minutes or so to dispose of the scrap. The operator must attend to the disposal more frequently as the line speed or
material gauge increases.
A scarf winder (see Figure 1) is one of the automation alternatives
and is considered the best practice for OD weld bead scrap disposal.
Once the operator has mastered the “threading dance” (starting the
tube mill, lowering the OD scarf tool, grabbing the scarf pigtail, and
making the initial wrap on the winder), he is free to tend to other business for about 10 minutes.
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TPJ • SEPTEMBER 2005
Figure 1
Some tube mills employ both a scrap winder and a scarf chopper.
This allows the operator to choose winding (top photo) or chopping (bottom photo). Having both pieces of equipment on one
mill provides a backup when one of them is out of service for
maintenance or repair.
A TPA PUBLICATION
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P R O D U C I N G
When the scrap winder becomes full, the
operator pulls the scrap ball off the winder, or
if he is lucky, he ejects it into a scrap bin.
At this point he has an empty winder and
a running mill. To get the scrap winding
process going again, he doesn’t have to perform steps 1 and 2. The mill is already running, so he goes right to step 3 (grabs the pigtail) and on to step 4 (threads it onto the
winder).
Using a winder means the operator has
fewer disposal cycles for a given mill speed
and material thickness, so he is exposed to the
hazards fewer times throughout a production
run. However, this doesn’t lessen the severity
of the hazards. The scarf scrap is just as hot
and just as sharp.
Another automated scrap disposal option
is the scrap chopper (see Figure 1). This type
of machine uses a chopping mechanism to cut
the scarf into short lengths (3 inches or so). A
conveyor moves the scrap to a bin.
A scrap chopper eliminates repeated
threading as long as the mill is in continuous
operation and the scarf tool is not retracted
from the weld bead. In other words, it is necessary to thread the scrap-chopping machine
only once per line start. This further reduces
the number of times the operator is exposed
to hot scarf. A chopper also eliminates scarf
ball handling.
A TPA PUBLICATION
A chopper doesn’t solve every problem,
and choppers aren’t necessarily suitable for
every welded tube mill. However, they are a
big step forward in scarf handling safety.
ID WELD BEAD
REMOVAL OPTIONS
For manual removal of ID weld beads, an
operator uses his gloved hand to pull the scarf
out of the tube and guides it into a scrap hopper. Little training is required other than identifying the sharp end of the scarf. The work
isn’t as difficult as manual disposal of OD
scarf, but the operator is exposed to the same
hazards.
It is not uncommon to use a manual feed
scrap chopper for ID scarf. An operator feeds
the strand into the chopper and lets the chopper take over the job of pulling the strand
from the tube.
Most mills use air or water to blow the
scarf out of the tube. This method is considered a best practice for ID scarf removal and
disposal. In its simplest form, ID scarf is
blown out against a barrier (which prevents it
from sailing across the shop), and the scarf
drops into a scrap box. The ID scarf scrap is
messy and tends to take up a tremendous
amount of space. The operator must empty
the scrap hopper often.
More advanced methods blow the scarf
R E S U LT S
into either a shredder or chopper to reduce
volume.
Compressed air tends to be the easiest to
use of the two options, especially if it is
employed immediately after the cutoff. The
water that remains in the tube (water left over
from the flow-through impeder cooling and
from the forming steps), combined with the
compressed-air blast, does a noisy but effective job. The alternative blowout method uses
water at medium pressure (less than 200
pounds per square inch [PSI]) to high pressure
(more than 200 PSI) to accomplish the same
job. Water blowouts tend to be quieter but
more complicated and can lead to shockrelated valve problems.
Bud Graham is president of Welded Tube
Pros, P.O. Box 202, Doylestown, OH
44230, 330-658-7070, fax 216-937-0333,
budg@bright.net, www.weldedtubepros.com.
He also is the chairman of TPA’s Tube
Producers Council. Welded Tube Pros is a
consulting engineering firm serving the needs
of welded tube producers. If you have a specific question or would like to see an article on
a particular problem, please contact the
author or TPJ.
SEPTEMBER 2005 • TPJ
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